Bryan firefighters hope to sign health and wellness contract

Bryan Fire Department members are hoping to keep fit and become their best selves in order to continue fighting fires and keep residents safe.

In order to maintain their health, the fire department is hoping to sign a three-year contract for $630,500 with Alinea Physiotherapy & Wellness of College Station, to facilitate a Health and Wellness initiative.

On Monday, Jason Nored, assistant fire chief of operations for the Bryan Fire Department, said he and Greg Propst, owner of Alinea Physiotherapy & Wellness, started discussing a background for the health and wellness of firefighters.

“There were some articles that [Propst] had seen on different initiatives that were put out there based on the International Association of Firefighters. We took what they had and we tried to scale it down to fit the size of department we have,” Nored said Monday. “It has probably been a year and a half in the making of us trying to figure out how we want to pursue this, and last year we got awarded grant funding through FEMA to initiate this program.”

The department received a $195,000 grant from the Assistance to Firefighters Grants program through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which will pay for the first year of this program. However, the fire department needs funding for the following two years. The department will request those funds from the city during Tuesday night’s city council meeting.

The annual expenditures specified within this contract will not exceed $200,000 for year one with a 5% increase for each additional year and paid on a monthly basis, according to city staff. The total three-year contract amount is $630,500, and Nored said, if approved by the council, they will also seek more grants during the remaining two years to go toward the program.

According to the contract, Alinea Physiotherapy & Wellness will provide a program consisting of wellness, fitness plans, educational sessions for sleep, rest, recovery, nutrition, lifestyle, physical therapy and other related services that improve the health and wellness of employees, reduce lost time by preventing injuries and chronic disease and reduce recovery time. They will provide on-site representatives to manage the program at Bryan fire stations.

“The program focuses on four things and branches out from there,” Nored said. “Every year we do stress tests with Texas A&M and as part of this program [Propst] will evaluate everybody’s fitness packet that [includes] bloodwork and physical exams. He is going to evaluate that and have a discussion with each individual on some concerns or areas they can improve.”

Ultimately the fire department will be the first to participate in the program, but Nored said the goal is to have it expand to the Bryan Police Department and more city entities so everyone can benefit.

“The Bryan Fire Department wanted to do a pilot program for the city of Bryan as a whole; we were going to implement this for the fire department,” he said. “We are signing a three-year contract, with the hopes that during year one we are going to bring on some Bryan Police Department [officers] as a test, with the hope that eventually we will spread into BPD and [Bryan Texas Utilities] once we have supportive data.”

Bryan city staff members say they are in support of this contract and at the conclusion, data and justification will be reviewed to determine if other city departments might benefit from a similar initiative. The city council will have the final vote.

“That is, ideally, over time all city of Bryan employees could participate in the program,” city staff stated. “The Bryan Fire Department is committed to the health and wellness of its firefighters. This initiative will address injury prevention, cardiovascular disease, nutrition, mental trauma, lost time and more. This initiative is intended to positively change firefighters’ lives while they are employed by the city of Bryan and into retirement.”

Additionally, if approved by the council, the program incorporates physical rehabilitation, nutritional guides and injury prevention, in which firefighters will be evaluated through functional movements by looking at how their bodies lift weights.

“Everybody is different, so [Propst] is going to evaluate and give pointers on how to improve your lifting style, so you don’t injure your body. That injury prevention is going to be huge for our department,” Nored said. “It will help people because if they do get injured it might be less severe, but the goal is to prevent the injuries and keep people on duty.”

Residents may attend the meeting in the Bryan Municipal Building at 300 South Texas Ave. or view the broadcast on Suddenlink Ch. 16 or on the city’s website at bryantx.gov.

To view the contract, visit go.boarddocs.com/tx/cobtx/Board.nsf/Public.